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Continental Cup
The Contintental Cup is a trophy in the VHL that is annually awarded to the playoff championship team. It was founded, along with the VHL, in Season 1, and was donated by Hannaford Bros. Co., a multi-billion dollar corporation league founder [[Kevin Brooks|'Kevin Brooks']] partially owns. The Continental Cup usually resides in the VHL Hall of Fame, though it does frequently travel around the world for a variety of reasons. Similar to the NHL's Stanley Cup, the names of the players of the winning team are engraved on the cup's exterior. The [[Vasteras IK|'Vasteras IK']] franchise was the very first club to win the Continental Cup, when they shocked the [[Calgary Wranglers|'Calgary Wranglers']], defeating them in six games. History 'Origins' The Continental Cup was alloyed and created in a factory near Westbrook, Maine, Kevin Brooks' hometown, and the location of the Hannaford Bros. Company, who donated it to the VHL due to their ties with Brooks. The trophy is made pure silver, with bronze panelling, and costed $834 to make. A representative of HBC once said on record that the bronze plates were put on to further distinguish the trophy from the Stanley Cup, and by extension, distinguish the VHL from the NHL. Today, the HBC continues to pay for the maintenance and annual engravings of the Contintental Cup. List of Continental Cup Champions All eight VHL franchises have won the Continental Cup at least once. The Calgary Wranglers have won it more than any other franchise, claiming the trophy five times in the league's 20 season history. Three clubs have won the trophy only once, including the Toronto Legion, the Hamilton Canucks/New York Americans, and the Vasteras IK/Madrid Thunder franchises. The most recent team to win the trophy is the [[HC Davos Dynamo|'HC Davos Dynamo']], in Season 20. The longest streak a franchise has ever gone without a Continental Cup is 19 seasons and counting, with the Vasteras IK winning their only championship in the league's inaugeral season. Traditions and Anecdotes When a club wins the Continental Cup, one infamous tradition is for the players of the winning team to take home the Cup for a couple of days during the off-season, before passing it off to another player. This is a tradition that was borrowed from the NHL. Players often bring it to charity events with their time with the Cup, which can boost the morale of sick children or injured war veterans. However, players' time with the trophy can also be a source of notoriety. After the Wranglers won the championship in Season 2, Brett Slobodzian threw a large-scale party at his home in Calgary. By the end of the night, he was so intoxicated, he threw up in the Cup and fell down a flight of stairs while holding it. After Riga Reign's victory in Season 10, Terence Fong attempted to bring the Cup back to his home in Hong Kong, China, but was arrested and had the Cup confiscated because airport security thought he was stealing it. League Commissioner Scotty Campbell had to personally show up to retrieve the Cup and have Fong released. In Season 14, Vase Trikamaki intended to bring the Cup with him on vacation to London, England. When his plane from New York landed in London, he realized that he had left the trophy on the hood of his car, which was still parked in the New York airport. He managed to contact his teammate, Brandon Azevedo, to find his car and see if the Cup was still there. Miraculously, it was, and Azevedo and Trikamaki decided to swap their designated days with the trophy for the sake of convenience.